Woolooware Bay - 5th September 2015

Finally! The sun rises a bit earlier, the water isn't as cold and the gin-clear waters have coloured up after the rain a couple of weeks ago. It was time to hit the racks and test out some new lures. Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator Tackle had sent me some of the new Ima Tetra lures in the new Aussie colours. These are really high quality lures and the finish is superb. They cast and swim well and come loaded with Owner hooks. 

I'd used the old colours before and have always done well with them but I think this time they've really hit the nail on the head with the designs and I'm sure a few big bream are going to try to take them home as souvenirs this summer. The top row are the Tetra's while the bottom row are the Tetra Mono's. The Mono's have a slightly deeper and wider profile and dive a bit further too. Perfect for when it's a bit blowy and you want to punch them into the wind.

The Tetras get down to about half a meter while the Monos will dive to a meter. This makes them ideal for the racks or the flats and over weedbeds. But today it was all about the racks. I was using the Gladiator Tackle Psyborg rod and reels with Gosen Mebarin 8lb PE. This is then attached to a 3 meter length of 12 lb fluorocarbon leader. Conditions were great even though the tide was almost at it's lowest. Not much run in the water but I was still hoping for some action.

I tried a few channel markers on the way out but there was no interest from any of them, so I continued into the racks. Two weeks ago when I came out I didn't even get a touch or see a fish. But today felt different and it didn't take me long to get on the board. Not a big bream at 27cm's tip but he'd be in the live well if this was a comp day. This guy pounced on a Tetra, colour no. 03.

Time to try another colour, so I tied an a Tetra Mono, colour no. 02. Matt Black is always one of my favourite lure colours in the racks and it was soon snaffled by a slightly bigger bream, this one going 31cm's tip. 

I was slow rolling the lures with pauses every couple of meters and it was during one of these pauses that the lure was belted! The rod loaded up and I felt a few angry head shakes transmit up the line. The drag was locked down and neither of us was giving an inch. I started to crank the reel handle and then he was gone. Aaargh. I still had my lure though and the hooks were still intact, so I guess I must have just lip-hooked him. That's rack fishing for you: you have to go hard or they'll dust you up good and proper. At least I kept my lure!  : P

Time for another colour change (a Tetra no. 05) and this one works too. This bream went 33cm's tip and really played up, darting from one rack over to the next and then trying to race back to where it came from. It wasn't quick enough though and after a quick photo, it went back to his little home.

So all up, I had a brilliant morning and I didn't have to share the racks with anyone else the whole time I was there. With the Hobie Georges River round in a few weeks time, it looks like the fishing will be pretty bloody awesome. This will be the last chance to qualify for the Australian Championships at Lake Macquarie in October, so get in quick and have a crack. And if you're after any of these Ima Tetra's, contact Adam at fishin.com.au. In fact, he'll have just about anything you could want, so just contact him! Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Lowrance and Insight Genesis - create your own maps!

Fishing is always pretty quite in July and August for me with soccer finals for the kids and myself but I still try to sneak out for an hour or two when I get a chance. I've been managing to brave the cold a few mornings and I decided to utilise one of the excellent features of my Lowrance Elite 5 CHIRP sounder: Insight Genesis. The sounder allows me to record my sonar log to a micro SD card which I can later upload to Lowrance and create a personal map for use on my sounder on future trips. Once you know what to do it's pretty straight forward and if you follow the steps below, you'll have it mastered in no-time.

Plus there is also a competition being run by Lowrance for the next few months called the Insight Genesis Challenge and whoever uploads the most acreage of sonar logs each month wins a Lowrance HDS7 Gen2 Touch. That's an awesome prize in anyone's books, so jump on-board and have a go. Regarding the competition, here is a video of Lee Rayner explaining how to get involved and this link from the Insight Genesis website also has a video that quickly explains it. For the complete FAQ, go here.

So for those that don't want to watch the videos or read all the other stuff, here's my cheat sheet for how to record your sonar:

1. Get a micro SD card. I have an 8GB card and based on my first lot of recordings, that will hold over 80 hours of sonar logs (approx. file size for me was 90Mb per hour).
2. Insert the SD card in your sounder and select the sonar only screen from your 'Pages'. On the Elite 5, if you don't have the sonar page on your screen, you wont get the 'Log Sonar' option when you open up the menu. I know this as on my first attempt on the water I was going backwards and forwards through menus trying to find it without success until I selected the sonar only screen!
3. Hit the menu button, and select 'Log Sonar' then 'Start Logging'. A red dot will flash in the upper right corner of your sounder to show it is recording. Start fishing!
4. Every hour I stop logging and start a new log. That way, file sizes are kept smaller for uploading and if a file is corrupted, you only lose one hour and not the whole session.

And that's it! Simple, huh? The next part is to upload your files to the Lowrance cloud, it then does all the processing and eventually you'll have a map that you can download to your SD card and use on future trips. Another great thing about this tool is that you can merge trips and build up an accurate detailed map over time. The sonar recording is great to review later and below you can see a heap of fish right on the edges of the drop off below.

I started using this in Yowie Bay and below shows the maps and merged trips over a two week period. To get a really accurate map, you go back and forth over the area.

This will allow all the lumps and bumps to be recorded.

The next week I ventured down the other side of the bay and merged my two trips into one map.

If you like, you can also turn off the trail to show the contour map only.

 Here is a zoomed in section showing the detail that can be obtained. Brilliant stuff I reckon.

My next trip was into the upper section and then back down across some previously un-mapped water which I once again merged with my previous map. And each time I go out and merge trips, I'll end up with a more accurate map than the last time.

Oh, and although the fishing wasn't exactly brilliant, I did land a first from my kayak, and it was literally, a beauty.

So once you've finished mapping a section and completed your maps, you can download them and use them on your sounder. In fact, there are literally thousands of maps from around the world that you can download and use on your sounder. It's an awesome feature that can save so much time and effort if you are fishing in a new area. I know that every time I go out in the kayak now, I'll be logging my sonar for future reference. It's a no brainer. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

ps I filmed a quick 'How to...' for your sonar logging.

BLF Southern Bream Series - Sydney Harbour - 28th June 2015

41 kayakers were lined up to spread out from Hen and Chicken Bay with 7 hours (actually 6 hours 45 minutes) up their sleeves to attempt to catch at least 3 of Sydney's winter blue nosed bream. A couple of weeks ago there were numerous reports of great captures but things can change pretty quickly in the big city. To ward off the cold, the Sydney Latte Brigade downed a nice warm latte before the kick off...

I shot straight over to the boats from the launch site and started casting a Gladiator Shiver Vibe (SV4003) under the hulls. The water was a bit too still for my liking but it wasn't too long before I landed my first. 25.5cms though and he's agonizingly half a centimeter short of legal size for the comp. Back he goes and I continue on. I'm alternating between the vibe and the Bait Breat SL Remix soft plastic and it's the SL that gets me my first legal for the day, a 29 tip specimen that sees me throw the donut monkey off my back.

It's very quiet though and I decide to move down towards the main river. I start by working the front of the marina and land two undersize bream in successive casts and on the 3rd cast my lure gets whacked and screams off. My hopes are soon shattered when I feel the pulsations through my line and a cracker trevally eventually is landed and set free.

I make a move to some moored boats and Eric Wood is working the same area as me. I flick my vibe way up in between two boats and it gets nailed half way back to the yak. This feels really good and I stop his first run and gain some line. But then he decides he's not done yet and races hard for the next boat. I have no choice but to lock up the spinning spool and PING, I pop a knot. Bugga, that was a good fish.

On with another vibe (my last brown one) and I keep flicking between the boats. The wind is pushing my nose into the boats so I grab my short paddle to turn me back out when my rod bucks and I'm onto another good fish. Eric is yelling out behind me, "Oh, that's a good one, get him. That's it, he's out. NO! Stop him, yes, that's it. Ha ha, oh he's good! Get him, no!" And with that last shout, he does me on the rudder of the yacht. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That's two bruisers within the space of a few minutes. Soon after Eric hooks up to a biggie as well and also gets done over. Shizer.

Tail between my legs, I head up river. I try everything in my arsenal and eventually manage another 29 tip bream but that's it for me. My two fish weigh 870g and lock me into 14th. Top honours went to good mate and top fisho Terry Grima who smashed us all with 2.5kgs (see, I said in the last report it'd take 2.5kgs to win it!). 2nd went to Matthew Hooper with 2kgs and 3rd went to Mr Consistent, Luke Kay with 1.64kgs. Well done lads.

So there's a bit of a break now with the next comp for me not scheduled until 9th August at St Georges Basin. This will be the last comp before the Grand Final and with a close points table, I'm sure there will be a few yakkers turning up to secure vital points to ensure they make it into the top 15. I better get my hands on a few more of those brown Shiver Vibes from Gladiator Tackle, me thinks. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Daiwa Hobie Fishing Bream Series - Forster, 16th-17th May 2015

Saturday and Sunday saw Round 7 of the Daiwa Hobie Kayak Bream Series train roll into good ol' Forster town. This is probably my favourite place to fish for these iconic fish. There was an excellent roll-up for this event and eventually 67 yakkers took off, all chasing Forsters big Bluenose Bream that mostly call the Oyster Racks their home.

Day one and I got my first fish on the 2nd cast and it fell to my go-to lure lately, the Gladiator Shiver Vibe in purple and black (SV4010). I'd tempted the fish out from a set of broken racks by slowly hopping the vibe parallel with the rails. By the time I'd put the fish in the well, turned back and got ready for cast number 3, there were two skin divers heading down the same row. Ah well, time to move on I guess.

I only had one of these purple and black vibes though and it was soon taken home by a big beastie . On goes my next favourite, a brown colour one (SV4003) and it's working a treat also and I get my bag by 8:20am. I had a blast today and landed about a dozen legals but I was only upgrading a centimeter at a time.

Right at the end of the day, I checked my watch and I had 40 minutes to get back to the launch site. I really needed a kicker fish though and in the last ten minutes the wind had picked up and the fish were starting to come on the chew. I decided to roll the dice and have one more run through the racks.

I was now casting a Gladiator Bingo, landing it as close to the racks as possible before rolling it back to me. My roll of the dice worked out for me as I landed a 37 fork length which bumped my bag up by about 400 grams. Time to high-tail it for home and 'SNAP'!, there goes my back fin cable. Shizer! I paddle (as well as pedal) and I make it back with 2 minutes to spare. That was close! My 3 bag weight is 1.91kgs and I'm sitting in 7th.

A huge thanks goes out to Chris Purnell from Totally Immersed Watersports who sorted me out with a new cable. You're a champion Chris!

Day two and I start off with the Shiver Vibe again but it's a bit slower today and it's not until 9:40am that I get my 3.  From then on it was simply a matter of working through the racks hoping I'd slowly upgrade every now and then. I eventually changed to a Gladiator Bingo which did the trick and the bream were wolfing it down. Even the Long Toms were getting into the act with them. In hindsight I probably should have made the switch a bit earlier.

Every now and then I'd throw out a SP, a Bait Breath SL Remix and this was pulling it's fair share of fish, too. As per usual, I was done over a few times and I landed more than yesterday (15 legals) but I just didn't get the bigguns. A bag of 1.57kgs saw my 2-day weight of 3.48kgs land me in 9th spot and I was stoked to crack the top 10 here with such a big field of talented anglers.

Congratulations to the podium getters: Joel Crosbie, Glenn Allen and Chris Burbidge and also to the Boss Hog winner, Jason Meech. And an additional HUGE congrats to Joel and Glenn for making it onto the Australian Team for the Hobie Worlds in China this November. Go get 'em boys!

Thanks again to Steve Fields and his team for running these awesome events, they simply are brilliant. And thanks for the continued support from Stephen Blackmore from GLADIATOR Fishing Tackle for the fantastic tackle and lures that keep on producing for me.

And last but not least, thanks Matt Petrie for the 20 bucks I won back off you after you took it off me at the Georges River round last year. : P

This weekend I'll be competing in the Sydney Harbour round for the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series which is also a Hobie Australian Championship Qualifier. It's still not too late to get your entries in, so jump in and have a go. The fishing has been great so there'll be some pretty good bags weighed in and I'm guessing it'll take a 2.5kg plus bag to win it (for the kayakers). Happy yakkin' everyone!

cheers,
Cid

BLF SBs Round 4 - Shoalhaven River - 19th April 2015

Well I haven't been down here for a few years and I've yet to get my full quota of three fish but I've always managed to pull a good size fish from this notoriously tricky waterway. I was guessing that most yakkers would turn right and head for the oyster racks, so I planned to do something different and head to the back of Nobles Island (or Mangrove Island).

From the start, EVERYBODY except Terry Grima and I headed right! 'Hmmm, do they know something we don't,' I thought. Anyway, fingers crossed I'd find a few fish amongst the racks and over the flats. 

I'll keep it short and say that I couldn't get a legal bream in there. Neither could Terry. Neither did I see any of the two boats in the same vicinity land anything either. I persevered for probably longer than I should have, but it's always a bit of a guessing game. Do I stick it out and hope that they come on the chew, or do I move off and try to find them? 

A few years back I remember fishing a tournament with Gary Brown in Brisbane Waters. We were working this big weed bed and about 100m away was Chris Cleaver. After two hours with only one just legal fish to show for it, we decided to move. Back at the weigh in, Chris weighed in a massive bag. 'Guess what? ' he said. 'About 10 minutes after you left, they went nuts and we bagged out within 15 minutes.' And that's sometimes the way it can go.

Eventually I decided to move into the main river and I set my sights on the drift just south of the punt. There were a few boats there and the tide was just starting to get a bit of pace to it on its way out. I grabbed my Psyborg Rod and Reel outfit with 8lb Gosen Mebarin and 4lb leader. This was finished off with a 1/6th jig head and a 3" Bait Breath SL Remix (colour 787), the lure that had fooled my big bream in the Georges River round earlier this year. All this gear is distributed by Gladiator Tackle and it has been working for me brilliantly since I've been using it.

The technique was to cast upriver while I faced into the current, slowly pulsing the Hobie Mirage Drive to keep me stationary. Then it was a matter of letting the lure hit the bottom and slowly lifting it and bumping it back towards me. The bottom was pretty snaggy here so I was expecting to lose some tackle (and I did, too).

I'd only been there about 5 minutes when I felt a bump on the line. 'Fish?', I wondered. I wound in the slack, lifted the rod and it bucked in my hands as a solid weight took off. This was good and there were a few angry head shakes transmitted up the line. Bugga, it may be a Jewfish and I peered into the depths trying to get a glimpse of it. There were a few more stubborn runs and I was worried it might take me over some boulders and bust me off. Eventually I started to get some line and I sucked in some air over gritted teeth when I saw it emerge from the depths.

Into the net she goes and a passing boat yells out 'Bloody Hell, I hope we can get one like that?' What a beauty! A quick measure and into the live well and back out to try and get it's twin. But, that was the only legal I could get. Eventually the tide was too fast for me to sit in the current with out exhausting myself and it was time to head back anyway. Only one fish, but at least it was a good one.

She went 1.28 kgs and 38 fork. This girl was enough to push me up into 4th and also snare me the Big Bream prize again. This SL Remix is worth its weight in gold! The winner (again!) was Luke Kay (1.65 kgs), 2nd was Glenn Allen (1.440 kgs) and 3rd went to Jon Chen (1.43 kgs). Well done boys on a pretty tough waterway.

Next event for me is the Daiwa Hobie Kayak Bream Series at Forster on the 16th-17th May. This is also a World Qualifier and the top 2 places secure a position on the Hobie Australian Team that will be competing at Shang Lake, China from the 9th-16th November 2015. For further details, visit the Hobie Worlds website. Until the next report, happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

BLF SBS Round 3 - Clyde River, Batemans Bay - 22nd March 2015

Two weekends ago I was able to fish a new location: The Clyde River at Batemans Bay for round 3 of the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series. This was a special event as it was an affiliated ABT Hobie event and was also the NSW State Titles. With 4 spots up for grabs for the Hobie Daiwa Grand Final at the end of the year, everyone knew it would be a hotly contested round. This was my first crack at a Hobie round this year so to grab one of the GF qualifying spots would be extra sweet. Just after 7am, 30 kayaks set off to find the elusive Clyde River bream.

I didn't have to travel far to my first set of racks and only a few racks away from me was good mate Terry Grima. Only a few minutes into it and Terry is on but the hooks pulled on a very good fish just as he was about to net it. Man, that had to hurt.

I'd been trying a few surface lures without much interest so I switched to the HB lure that worked so well for me in round 1: a GLADIATOR Fishing Tackle Shiver Vibe. I didn't have any of my favourite purple and black colour, so I tied on colour SV4003 (Brown). After a few tentative bumps, I finally hooked up solid and fish number 1 came to the net. 32 fork, so not a bad start.

I had the lure rigged on 8lb fluoro and 8lb Gosen Mebarin Pe. I was casting them as close to the racks as possible, letting them settle for a few seconds before I gently lifted them a foot or so before letting them drop back down. That brown Shiver Vibe didn't last long as I was absolutely smoked by a beast that I just couldn't get up and coming towards me. In fact, this guy started to pull me and the kayak towards him and eventually he did me on one of the posts supporting the racks.

On goes another Shiver Vibe and it's not long before I get destroyed by another brute. Terry has also lost two fish so there are a few big ones about. I tie on another colour (SV4012) and I eventually get number 2 in the well. Over the next 30 minutes I'm busted up twice more and land a few undersize bream before the bite shuts down.

I decided to move upriver, hoping to find fish in a variety of places (mangrove edges, weed beds, submerged rocky boulders) but I just can't land a legal bream. Time ticks on and I decide I'm going back to my original racks to have another quick try to get number 3. I'm eagerly casting away when Eric Wood drifts past and he has his 3. "Well done," I say as he heads off. "Ya mongrel,' I mutter as he gets out of earshot... : P

It's 1:16pm, only 29 minutes to go when my last Shiver Vibe gets whacked and I lay into the fish and get him in quick smart. As he skips across the surface he must be thinking 'What the hell is going on here?' Phew, that's my 3. I'm guessing I've got about 1.4kgs, so I'm hopeful for a top 10 placing.

Back at the weigh-in there's lots of tales of woe and misery and I'm surprised to take out 3rd place with 1.39kgs, just pipping the in-form Simon Morley by 10 grams. Eric took out 2nd place with 1.59kgs (congrats Eric) and the number 1 spot was taken out by Luke Kay with 1.69kgs. Luke is blitzing it, with three 1sts and two 2nds in his last 5 tournaments, pretty amazing stuff and well deserved, too.

We were all stoked to grab those qualifying spots for the Hobie Daiwa GF and we're all keen as mustard to get to the next round on the Shoalhaven next month. Thanks to Ian Phillips and his team for putting on another great event and thanks to all the sponsors for making these tournaments what they are. Thanks also to Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator Tackle for his support and the great gear that's helping me get the results.

The next round is down on the Shoalhaven River. This place can bit a bit tricky, but she's been pretty good to me a few times before, so hopefully I can find a fish or two. Ideally, I'd like to find at least three, but I'll start with one.

On a different note, after 6 years, Adam and I are winding up the Kayak Fishing Sydney website. It's served it's purpose well and has allowed us to sell quite a few DVD's and introduce a lot of new people to the world of kayak fishing.We had fun making it and bringing it to fruition and who knows, maybe one day we'll do another one. Thanks for coming on this adventure Adam, we made a pretty good team.

I'll still be doing this Blog however, so you'll still be able to pick up many fishing tips through the reports. In fact, there are over 200 reports on the blog now, so there is heaps and heaps of information on different species and locations that'll help you get into a few fish. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

BLF SBS Round 2 - St Georges Basin - 28th Feb-1st Mar 2015

25 Kayaks and 53 boats at this round of the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series. Conditions were good for Saturday but a little more wind would ruffle up the water a bit and hopefully get the fish on the chew over the flats and shallow weed beds. My plan of attack was to head out to the cockle beds in Erowal Bay. I'd had a little pre-fish there and picked up a 36 fork bluenose that engulfed one of the Bait Breath SL Remix soft plastics, so I was hoping to emulate that effort on comp day.

On the way I had a few quick throws with a Gladiator Kozami surface lure but the water was way to still for my liking, so I ventured the 700 meters to my first way point. Checking the sounder, I could easily see the cockle weed and fingers crossed, the bream would be here too.

I was fishing a 3" SL Remix (colour 787), this time rigged on a 1/40th HWS jig head with 4lb Fluoro attached to Gosen Mebarin 8lb PE. I gotta tell you, this Gosen is unreal stuff. It's super thin and casts a mile and is amazingly strong for its size. Being able to get those extra few meters each cast really makes a difference I think, especially over the flats.

After 45 minutes, all I had to my name was one 50cm flattie and two small bream. Hmmmm, what to do? I decided to mix it up and I rigged up with a 1/20 jig head. Maybe the fish were feeding more off the bottom. This did the trick for me and within half an hour I had two fish in the well. Not beasts, but good enough for a start.

I bumped into Gary Brown and David Tosland (in a dirty filthy stink boat) and they still didn't have one in the well yet. They moved off to try different waters while I decided to give it another 30 minutes. This turned out to be a good decision as five minutes later I landed number 3 for the day. Well that's my bag but it's nothing special. I need a kicker. A few people today will get fish near a kilo and to be in with a chance, you have to have on in your well, too.

I eventually moved into deeper water to see if the fish were there in bigger numbers. I land a few small snapper and eventually I get a mighty wallop and the rod buckles over. There's some good weight here but it doesn't feel breamy. As I peer into the depths, a big flattie planes into view. Luckily I see Gary and David again, so I call them over and they scoop her up for me in their large net (Note to self: I've got to get myself a bigger net.)

I'd called her for 70cms when I saw her in the water but now she looked a little bigger, so I called out to Gary, 'What is she? 72?"
"No way," he says. "She's 71!" Well I was close. A few quick photos (thanks Gary) and she slides back down into the depths until next time.

By now the wind had picked up a bit so I moved over to the shallow weed beds and again switched to a lightly weighted SL Remix. I picked up another 3 legal bream but none were upgrades. These fish had obviously been living among the weed for a while as they were all a coppery-gold colour. Close to me Simon Morley was hooked up to something that was giving him the run around. I asked what it was? "Don't know," says Simon, "it's silver though!" Jason Reid and I are both spectating when he finally brings it aboard and it's a big trevally. "Oh, bummer!" we say sarcastically and return to our fishing. : )

My measly bag weighed in at 1.26kgs and saw me sitting in 12th place, 840gms behind Brian Hunt in 1st place. See, I told you I needed a kicker fish!

Day 2 dawned the same as Saturday but there is a predicted southerly so the organisers have called an early finish. The kayakers have to be back at 11:45am so we'll have 2 hours less fishing time. Ok, time to get my finger out and get a big fish or two.

Well, unfortunately no-one told the fish about my plan and by 9 am all I'd brought aboard was one small tarwhine. Ok, think Carl, think... Right, the last few days it's been blowing a North-Northeasterly. "Fish the wind blown banks," they say (who 'they' are I don't know) and if that's the case, I'd better get a move on so I can fish the southern side of the bay directly across from the launch site. It takes me 45 minutes to get there and I want to give myself at least an hour to make it back with plenty of time, so I have 1 hour to catch my bag.

There's a few boats in the area so I'm hoping I've made the right decision. First drift I get one in the well. 2nd drift I get another. Then BAM and my drag screams. Please, please, oh please be a bream but there's a few violent head rattles and I'm thinking it may be a snapper. Sure enough it is and I land my first legal snapper from the Basin. It was fun but not what I'm really after so I set off for another drift and it's not too long before I get number 3. Yes, what a turn around! From nothing to a bag in 45 minutes. I land another two legals but again they aren't upgrades and I have to head back for the weigh-in. Bummer, no kickers again and I know I'm out of the running for a podium placing.

There are a few slight gusts of a southerly as I head back and by the time I make shore, it's up to about 15 knots. Excellent timing I reckon and within 10 minutes, it's blowing about 30 knots! Good call Basin Lure and Fly, glad to see that angler safety always comes first. Kudos to you all for calling it early.

My bag came in at 1.6kgs (two day bag of 2.86kgs) and it was enough to bump me up to 7th place. Any time you make a top 10 is good and I was quite pleased with my efforts but without those kicker fish, it's very hard to get into the top spots. See, I told you I needed a kicker fish!

Top place went to good mate Stewart Dunn who smashed us on day 2 and ended up with a weight of 2.32kgs (2 day bag of 3.97kgs). 2nd went to Scott Marcinkowski (3.9kgs) and 3rd went to ever consistent Simon Morley (3.67kgs). Simon also took out the big bream prize with a beast of 1.32kgs. So again, another title comes back to live in the Shire! Yay Stewy.

Round number 3 is going to be held on the Clyde River, a place I've never fished before, so I'm really looking forward to it. Apparently there's lots of oyster racks in this system, so I reckon my Gladiator Bingos and Shiver Vibes are gonna get a work out. Thanks again to Stephen Blackmore from Gladiator Tackle for his continued support and for bringing in the great lures that keep catching me bream (and flathead and snapper and jewfish and whiting, etc, etc). Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Yowie Bay - 21-2-15

Kingies! Lots of reports of Kingies being caught in the Hacking so I thought I'd go and catch me some. Live squid would have been the best bait but being limited to time and being too lazy, I was sticking with SP's for today. On the water at 6:15am and I was at my first spot by 6:30am.

I kept an eye out for surface bust-ups but apart from the occasional splish from chopper tailor, things were pretty quiet. I was flicking out a Gladiator Smash Bait minnow in colour 15 (translucent with a pinkish tinge) and it was rigged on a 1/20th HWS jig head. 1 chopper, 2 choppers, 3 choppers...then finally a big hit but there is no hook-up!

I moved around hoping to find some baitfish but even they were no where to be seen. Bugger this, I'm off to try something different. I high-tailed it to a small reef and started blading, hoping to get a whiting or two, or maybe even a snapper for the table.

It wasn't long before I started to land a few small reddies and then whiting number one came aboard. That's one for the live well. The last few trips I've manage a few of these, so my hopes were up. They're great fighters when they get to a decent size and they're bloody good on the tooth, too.

More blading and I've noticed a few larger arches on the sounder. The rod buckles under a solid hit and up comes an almost legal snapper. Aargh, so close but back he goes to grow that extra half a centimeter. They are such a pretty fish, very tropical looking.

As I fish I wave to another 4 Hobie kayakers moving across the front of the bay, probably heading towards Lilli Pilli and beyond. When I started this kayak fishing caper 10 years ago, you'd be lucky to see one or two other yakkers in a day. Now we're bloody everywhere! Great to see how the sport has grown over the years and also good to see the amount of Hobies on the water. For a fishing kayak, you can't really beat the Hobies and they are almost the only kayak you'll see in any of the tournaments around the country now.

Behind me I hear a large splash and turn to see something big slash across the surface. Just at that moment, my blade get's hit and line zips off the reel. Ooh, this feels pretty good and a few tell-tale head-shakes transmit up the line. The fish runs into deeper water and I know I'm pretty safe out there so I back off the drag slightly and I let it run when it needs to.

I can tell it's not a huge fish but it's great fun all the same and I'm keen to get it in to take a few photos. I landed one just over a week ago while fishing with Adam Costa from Fishin Tackle Store and another one today would be fantastic.

Eventually she comes into view and I slide the net under her. They really are a magnificent looking fish: glowing silver scales along there lateral line and a purple-pink tinge across their head and back. The colours never really come out that well in photos but captured at the right angle, you can get an idea of it.

I took a few quick photos and slid her back into the dark water and swam her about while she got her strength back. A few more tail beats and she eventually shot back off into the depths to fight another day. With a self-satisfied sigh, I remembered the big splash just as I hooked up. I quickly scanned the water but there was no activity anywhere, so I figured I'd retire for the day and head for home.

Next weekend there is round 2 of the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series being held down at St Georges Basin. It's a 2 day event and fingers crossed, we'll get another good turn up and the fish will be on the chew. There's normally about 50 boats and 30 kayaks which will make it a challenging weekend but we all know there's some cracking big bream in that system. Last year in the Grand Final, Andrew Death landed a 1.76kg beast so we'll all be hoping to emulate that effort. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Basin Lure and Fly SBS - Round 1 Georges River - 8th Feb 2015

Time to get this blog back up and running. I've had a few adventures since my last update (was it really back in March last year???) with one major highlight being my selection for the Australian Hobie Kayak Fishing Team that jetted off and competed in China in their Open Championships with 9 countries and 56 anglers involved. I'll get to that at a later date but I will say the Aussie team blitzed them.

Last Sunday was the first round of the Basin Lure and Fly's Southern Bream Series and it was held on my local waterway, the Georges River. I'd managed a few pre-fish days leading up to the event and I had my game plan worked out. I was heading up into Woolooware Bay to fish channel markers, oyster racks and flats and fingers crossed, I'd have a good day. With 58 boats and 32 kayaks at this event, getting a bag early was key on my list before too many spots were hit by other anglers.

From the start I made a bee-line for my first set of markers. There were kayakers to either side of me but they thankfully peeled off and I was left alone. The tide was just starting to push in and I'd rigged a 3" Bait Breath SL Remix (colour 787 - similar to the Grenade colour) on a 1/28th HWS jighead and 6lb fluoro leader. 

On my 3rd cast I felt a slight bump, so I paused a few seconds and slowly lifted the rod tip. There was weight there so I struck and the fish charged up and rolled on the surface. 'Crikey, that's a good fish,' I thought and I stopped her from getting back to the marker and turned her out into open water. Then it was a test of patience as I took my time and let her run when she needed to and I slowly eased her back towards the net. With fingers, eyes and toes crossed, I slid the net under her and gave a small fist pump. Just over 39 fork length and wow, what a start! There's my kicker fish straight away.

 

I calmed myself, ensured the live well was full of water and set back to getting another. I moved to more markers and soon had another cracker in the well. This one went 34 fork length and I knew I was on a roll. Again, this one fell to the Bait Breath SL Remix.

From here I continued further into the bay and started fishing an old set of broken down racks. I swapped to a hard body: a Gladiator Shiver Vibe (colour SV4040 - purple black) with 8lb fluoro leader. Half way along the rack I pulled a 27 fork and a few casts later I upgraded him to a 29 fork. 

I then moved to the flats at the back of the bay and continued to land fish. Surprisingly, the only lure I could land them on today was the purple and black Shiver Vibe. I'd swap colours around but every time I came back to it, bang, I'd be on again. I got one more upgrade to a 30 forker before having to turn for home. So seven legals all up and 4 undersize saw me have a great day, especially in the still, sunny conditions which saw the bite shut down for me from 11:30am.

I knew I had a good bag but I still wasn't sure how the other guys had gone. Towra can hold some big fish and if someone had managed to find a few of them, they could bump me off. Plus Stewart Dunn, Andrew Death, Luke Kay and Jason Reid are others that know this place like the back of their hands and they usually do really well here, too. Back on shore however, I found out it'd been a pretty tough day for some and I was feeling pretty confident.

My bag went on the scales and stopped on 2.56kgs and the big girl went 1.36kgs, which is my biggest bream to date in a comp. 2nd place went to Luke Kay with 1.72kgs and 3rd was a split between Jason Reid and Brian Hunt with 1.61kgs each. 

Next round will be down at St Georges Basin later this month. Last year I won down there so I'm hoping for a repeat. Better get some more of those Gladiator Shiver Vibes rigged up! Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

ps If you want some good tips from Australia's top kayak angler, Chris Burbidge, grab a copy of the February Fishing Monthly magazine that has the ABT Angler Guide included within it. I've penned an interview I had with Chris where he highlights his spectacular year just gone and passes on some valuable information on lures and techniques.